PS3 Fanboy

The latest issue of EGM details the return of this fan-favorite horror title. Since Silent Hill 5 involves a military veteran recovering from his wounds at a hospital, it's clear this game shares a lot more with the franchise's inspiration film, Jacob's Ladder. The grain filter will make its return in this entry to the series, which a lot of fans are very happy about. However, that's not the interesting part.

The Havok engine is being used for real-time physics within most environments. Bumping into chairs, desks, weak floor boards, with produce noises that alert enemies to your presence. We're sure domino effects are likely too: knocking a chair into a table could knock a lamp down and break it (where there is, of course, a hidden key). Much like the film, Silent Hill 5 is going to employ real-time world deterioration. The transition between the normal world and the world of ... well, the messed-up world, will be visible in real-time and you can move the camera to check it out in great detail. That's some exciting stuff.

A final note is on the revival of boss battles. Bosses have been fairly tame in the Silent Hill games outside of the first and third, which featured large, monstrous bosses. The Collective, the game's developers, want to bring epic boss battles back into the game, relating the experiences to Zelda-like encounters. We're interested to see how that works. We'll keep you up to date as more info gets released.

Getting tired of Castlevania? Don't want to watch Brad Pitt and a very young Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire anymore? Fear not, lovers of the children of the night (since, as far as we know, none of you actually are vampires!), for a new survival horror game by the name of Harker is in the works for 2008. The game is based on the classic tale of Dracula as writ by Bram Stoker. You take control of the macho Jonathan Harker, who decides to avenge Dracula's attack on his beloved Mina with a variety of weapons (enabling brutal and effective deaths for all of those low-class vamps).

The producer of the game at The Collective, Nigel Cook, said this about the style of play found in Harker: "Harker's goal is to bring an in-your-face, visceral, and personal style of combat to the survival horror genre... None of these vampires are going to die with one shot. They're going to fight for their survival, which will give the player a huge level of satisfaction when they successfully execute one." Nice. Nothing like working really hard to get that satisfying head pop. Speaking of vampire games... what was the last vampire-centric game you played, if any?